City, protesters reach weekend truce over possible removal

Attorneys with the city and Occupy Dallas struck an agreement late Friday that will limit the conditions under which the city could remove the group from City Hall property this weekend.

According to the temporary agreement, Occupy Dallas cannot be removed from its campsite for using City Hall bathrooms or for erecting signs. Those are among several provisions of a written agreement signed last month that city officials have said the group is violating.

The new deal will be in place until Monday afternoon. That’s when Occupy Dallas is expected to go before a federal judge to ask for a temporary restraining order against the city in an effort to secure an increasingly tenuous hold on their campsite.

It now appears unlikely that the city will boot the protesters from their campsite at 5 p.m. Saturday. That was the deadline set earlier this week by City Manager Mary Suhm for the protesters to come into compliance with their original agreement.

“It’s a win in so far as it’s unlikely we are going to be moved out by 5 p.m. on Saturday,” said Occupy Dallas attorney Jonathan Winocour.

But city officials are not ruling out a weekend eviction.

“If there were serious public safety or health concerns, we would retain the right to terminate the agreement and to remove them from the property,” said First Assistant City Attorney Chris Bowers. “I expect that the city will monitor the property during the weekend.”

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